Skip to main content

stephen king - Is this a real quote from the Dark Tower series?


I found this line (attributed to Jake Chambers, and referring to the rest of his Ka-tet) in Bev Vincent's analysis The Road to the Dark Tower: Exploring Stephen King's Magnum Opus:



“I love them, but I hope I die before it gets me so bad it stops making any difference if the ones against me deserve [to die] or not.”



I've tried to find this passage in the books themselves (checking every instance of the word "love" in those books in which Jake appears) and on Google, with no success.


Does this passage actually appear in The Dark Tower series, and if so, where?



Answer





I contacted Bev Vincent, author of The Road to the Dark Tower: Exploring Stephen King's Magnum Opus. Here's what he had to say:



Jonah:


When I was writing The Road to the Dark Tower, I was working from the first draft manuscripts of the final three books. I received later drafts of books 5 and 6 in time to incorporate any corrections or changes King made to the quotes I had pulled from them, but I did not have the opportunity to see the revised MS of the final book before my book went to press. So there are several quotes from The Dark Tower in my book that do not reflect what was finally published. I’m pretty sure that’s the case here.


Bev



So Vincent suggests that this quote was from a pre-publication manuscript of The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower. This seems most probable to me, since the quote is sufficiently dissimilar to any existing one to be misremembered, and Vincent probably wouldn't fabricate it.


This makes sense in the apparent context of the quote. Jake has just killed several people, but he spares the dish-washer Jochabim.




“North of there, if you do like it or if you don’t,” said the washerboy. “Will’ee kill me, lad? I don’t want to die, sad as I am.”


“I won’t be the one to kill you if you tell me the truth. Did a woman come through here?”


The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower



According to Vincent in The Road to the Dark Tower, his thoughts are that Roland, Eddie, and Susannah would have killed him without a second thought, thus prompting the quote:



“I love them [Roland etc.], but I hope I die before it gets me so bad it stops making any difference if the ones against me deserve [to die] or not.”



Certainly Jake seems a kinder character than Roland, so it seems likely this might have occurred in one of King's earlier drafts.


The quote is probably from the initial draft of The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Did Gandalf wear his Ring of Power throughout the trilogy?

After Gandalf discovered that Sauron was back and sent Frodo on his quest to Rivendell, did he continue to wear Narya (one of the Three Rings)? It seems like a huge risk to continue to wear it after the Nazgûl (Ringwraiths) started to try and reclaim the One Ring; if they managed to get the ring to Sauron, couldn't he be corrupted by his power? Whatever powers Narya bestows upon him couldn't possibly be worth the huge risk, could it? Answer When Sauron forged the one ring and put it on his finger, the other ring bearers were immediately aware of him and his intentions and removed their own rings. There is no reason why they couldn't merely do so again. As soon as Sauron set the One Ring upon his finger they were aware of him; and they knew him, and preceived that he would be master of them, and of all they wrought. Then in anger and fear they took off their rings. "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age," Silmarillion
Post a Comment
Read more